Achalasia and thyroid disease

Table 2 Average score of all patients and those suffering from thyroid disease respectively (mean ± SD)

	Patients withhypothyroidism	Patients with benignthyroid diseases1	Patients withoutthyroid problems	Mean score ofall patients
Age	39.5 ± 14.3 a	35.8b± 11.9b	38.5 ± 18.1	37.9 ± 16.7
Dysphagia	5c	4.5 ± 1.1d	4.8 ± 0.45	4.8 ± 0.66
Regurgitation	5e	4.7 ± 0.75f	3.5 ± 1.9	3.8 ± 1.8
Nocturnal cough	2.5 ± 2.8 g	2.5 ± 2.5h	2.5 ± 2.2	2.5 ± 2.2
Chest discomfort	3.75 ± 1.5 i	2.2 ± 2.1 j	1.86 ± 2.7	1.96 ± 2
Weight loss	0.5 ± 0.5k	0.4 ± 0.5l	0.65 ± 4.08	0.6 ± 0.49

Scoring system: 0 = none; 1 = once per month or less; 2 = three to four times a month; 3 = two to four times per week; 4 = once per day; 5 = several times per day,

¹Composed of thyroid nodules, hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism. No significant differences between groups were found by independent t-test, Mann-Witney test and chi-square test. P values of differences between thyroid disease groups and other patients with achalasia: ^a: 0.7;

^b: 0.7;

^c: 0.5;

^d: 0.6;

^e: 0.09;

^f: 0.1; ^g: 1;

^h: 0.97; ^I: 0.08;

^j: 0.57;

^k: 0.6;

^l: 0.3. (the first and second columns were compared with the third column).